title: Isolation and characterization of two new hepatitis E virus genotype 1 strains from two mini-outbreaks in Lahore, Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pakistan is a highly endemic area for hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection. The aim of the current study was to isolate and characterize strains of HEV in two mini outbreaks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RNA was extracted and reverse transcribed to cDNA. Nested PCR was done for the detection of HEV RNA. The positive bands were eluted, cloned in TA vector and sequenced in both directions using genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystem Inc, USA). Phylogenetic analysis was done using MEGA4 software. We isolated two new HEV genotype-1 strains from Lahore, Pakistan, based on cloning and sequencing of ORF2 region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggest that both the human HEV strains were closely related to the Sar-55 but different from the Abb-2B and 87-Pakistan-B HEV isolates sharing 88-91% sequence identity to Pakistani isolate Sar-55. These results indicated that Sar-55 is the main endemic HEV strain in various areas of the country.
authors.affiliation: National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, Lahore-53700, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Idreeskhan96@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Tahir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Idrees
authors.forename: Liaqat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Abrar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.forename: Muhammad Zubair
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Yousaf
authors.forename: Muhammad Farooq
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Sabar
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005838:Genotype; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny